Earnscliffe Senior Public School

Parent Council Meeting January 7, 2015.

Staff Room

Draft Minutes

Meeting time: 6:30

Attendees:

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Earnscliffe Senior Public School

Andrea Dewar-Salmon, Principal

Vineet Gupta, Vice Principal

Costen McCann, Vice Principal

Daniella Balasal, Co-chair

Owen Mair, Co-chair

Dawn Macaulay, Secretary

Ivonne Burton, Treasurer

Monick Porter

Regrets

Shirley Edwards, Teacher Representative

Peta-Gaye Mair

Romena Khan

Earnscliffe Senior Public School

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Welcome and Introductions:

Owen called council to order and welcomed attending parents at 6:40. We welcomed Mr. Costen McCann, the Vice-Principal. After some changes were made to the order of items in the proposed agenda,Ivonne moved to approve the Agenda and minutes, and Daniella seconded the motion.

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Principal’s Report

Transitioning and No Jackets Policy: Andrea informed council that a parent has asked for re-evaluation of the no jacket policy. The policy is that there should be no jackets worn in the school. Safety procedures suggest that jackets should not be worn during classes as they could possibly allow contraband objects to be concealed. The school and portables are kept warm enough for the students and staff to be comfortable. The practice has been to have students transition from the portables into the school without jackets. Last year during the extreme cold, students did not line up to transition back into the school, but came straight in from the portables and re-grouped once inside. In the first week back to school, there were some cold days and student wasnot allowed to get a jacket. A parent called the practice into question and raised doubts about whether the safety worries are warrantedin our current school population. Council members asked whether there are current safety concerns, and whether the practice was a reaction to an incident or a proactive preventative measure. Andrea explained that it is difficult to assess safety concerns, as practice has been to exercise control by having students line up during classroom transitions. She and the leadership team will discuss the revaluation of these practices and will report to parent council about their recommendations.

BYOD (Bring your own Device) policy for outdoor use: The leadership team has come to a consensus that students will be allowed to use their devices during recess periods, whether they are held indoors or outside. Andrea mentioned that it will be important for every student to understand that there is a strict restriction against filming or posting of pictures. The council discussed the importance of being clear with students about the responsibilitiesand the limitations upon when the devices are used and the sites they can and cannot access. Costen told council that the school network can restrict access to only PDSB approved sites and that activity on the school networkcan be monitored. If students are not following the restrictions, they will lose access for a period of time. Some council members agreed that they have found their children are responding well to the rules and responsibilities that go along with device usage.

Breakfast Program: Andrea reported that the breakfast program is going well and that the teachers have it running efficiently. The staff have been considering a movie night with snacks as a fundraiser to keep the program running this term.

Announcements accessible online: Earnscliffe now has Digital announcements. Students can see the announcements on the internal LCD and personal devices. Parents can also access the announcements and the archived files via their child’s My Class website.

Earnscliffe School Website: Alerts, Events have recently been added to theEarnscliffemain school web-page.

New Screen: A new automatic 14 by 14 drop down screenwas purchased for use during large gatherings in the gymnasium.

Annual Report 2013/2014: Annual report is in progress with last year’s executive.

Success Program: Andrea provided an update to council about success plans and the focus on numeracy. She spoke about the current resources, in school onsite-training workshops held for students and teachers. Council agreed to set aside room in the agenda at the next meeting to discuss/plan for a math night and to plan for increasing council and parent involvement in that event.

Power of Youth: Gr 8 students that presented at the October meeting have been successfully contributing to the community via the Gift of giving and the food drive.

Spirit wear: There are t-shirts available for purchase on Cashless schools in each of the house-league colours.

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Principal and Vice-Principal Consultation Processes: School councils are asked to participate in the consultation process, whereby members reflect on the most important attributes in the Principal and Vice-Principals of their school.

Vice-Principal Consultation Process:Principal Dewar-Salmon led this processof open discussion about the attributes that make for a good vice-principal in our school.

Principal Consultation Process: Council Co-chairs led this process of open discussion about the attributes that are important in a Principal in our school and community, about current areas of strength for the school and areas or aspects of the school that parents would like to see strengthened.

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School council Bylaws: Vineet informed the council of the board’s requirement for each council to adopt a minimum of four sets of bylaws pertaining to elections, filing council vacancies, conflict of interest, resolving conflicts. The purpose of the bylaws is to help council run effectively. Typically, a subcommittee is struck, and by creates them, brings them to council and parents. Dawn and Daniella volunteered to serve on the subcommittee. Subcommittee meetings are held at the school and their date, time and location areadvertised to council.

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Fundraising: Council began to consider various options for potential fund-raising activities for the rest of this academic year. Council asked the Admin team if there were particular needs that could be used for goal-setting for the committee. Council generated a number of potential ideas for goals and for associated fundraising. These included but were not limited to including repainting the old logo in the gymnasium, French and social studies could be supported viaguided reading books, Math could be supported via Math manipulatives, court yards could be enhanced to be inviting spaces for teachers and children, landscaping for the front of the school could be improved. Fundraising ideas included a walkathon, a movie night for school council, dance-a-thon, Zumba night, and raffles.

In the near term, Council decided to focus on having students “Fill someone’s Bucket” by being able to provide a positive message and Hershey’s kiss to be shared on February 13th before the Family day long weekend. Council further decided to revisit fundraising at the next meeting.

Ivonne and Monickagreed to lead Fund-raising efforts for Council

Other Concerns:

Syner-voice: One council member shared the opinion that the voice can be difficult to understand and seems cold and less inviting than an announcement from a teacher, administrator or staff. Andrea agreed to take this point forward to those who may be producing the announcements.

Bussing issues: One council member raised concerns about tactics that at least one bus driver is using to deal with student issues (namely loud students). Concerns were noted by Costen who will follow up with the Bus company.

Coming meeting dates: Council supported the following datesFeb4, March 4, April 1, May 6, June 10.

Danielle motioned and Andrea secondedthe adjournment of the meeting at 8:43.